Psychology: Human Development - Essay Example

Human Development Human Development submitted) Human Development Human development starts from conception and continuous throughout life which is influenced by many processes and events contributing to lifelong change (Santrock & Yussen, 1984). Since it involves the development in physical, cognitive, emotional, and social aspects, it affects the human as a whole. Understanding human development highlights how we become who we are and how it affects our career. Human development is very important in a teaching career because it lays the foundation of becoming an effective teacher.

This is because the teacher may come up with better strategies in teaching, tools to counsel students and how to use them effectively. A situation where this applies is when a teacher may try to find the cause of the pupil’s difficulty in relating to others and develop a technique to solve the problem. In addition, human development may influence the teacher’s thinking and behaving which may also cascade to her students and peers. Since how we behave affects others, adults should have a satisfying development in her life.

An adult is defined in lifespan development as someone who moves from one stage to another with corresponding tasks. During the early adulthood, the dream of having an ideal life in the future is dominant. As the adult moves on the middle adulthood, she focuses on another aspect which could be a family. Late adulthood is geared towards retirement, frailty and death (Billings & Stokes, 1986). This definition of adult changes my understanding about adult. I came to realized that there are many challenges in adult development.

Furthermore, it gave me information on what to expect at this stage. Anticipating what is expected makes a person ready for the crisis or tasks that may lead to a wholesome adult who would be responsible for the next generation after her. In this regard, research is very important in understanding human. It provides information on how to deal with human problems. Without which may impede progress in improving the quality of behavior in humans. It may help us determine if those theories we apply in our career are useful and accurate.

Researches could be carried out using applied or experimental methods. Applied research involves the application of qualitative techniques to solve practical problems like prevention of diabetes (Gittelsohn, et al, 1996). Experimental research on the contrary is used to find effects of the environmental changes on human. It uses a standardized procedure to keep the dependent variables constant (Ross & Morisson,n.d ). Ongoing researches may facilitate my teaching career in a way that it provides advancement in knowledge.

It may also find better ways to teach and relates to students that might reduce number of drop outs. Erik Erikson is among the experts who have a profound influence to human development. He developed the psychosocial theory. This theory included eight core stages from infancy, early childhood, toddler age or play age, school age, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood or senility (Stein & Miller, 2000). Each stage has its own crisis or tasks for individuals to solve or carry out.

Erikson’s idea’s affects my career as a teacher in providing a guide for me to be able to identify other areas of learning and professional development. For instance, pupils who are observed to decline from the specified tasks in their stage or with maladaptive behaviors may be a good reason for me to take training on that particular area of learning. Whatever applies will be carried out to other pupils with the same problem. Another psychologist who influences human development is Urie Bronfenbrenner.

He is a Russian American psychologist who developed the ecological theory. This includes the microsystem which involves the immediate environment of the child, mesosystem includes the role of the different people working for the child, and macrosystem is focused on other things like freedom, values, and economy that may also affect the child. His work is different from that of Erikson in that he focused on one aspect of development which is social environment to include people and environment.

His theory explains the role of people in shaping the development of the child. While that of Erikson focuses on the individual who must strive to surpass the crisis in his stages of development. His work influences me to help construct a better environment of the child. However, the theory of Erikson relates more to me because I believe that human development should a collaboration of the individual and the environment. Works cited Billings, D., & Stokes, L., (1986). Medical- surgical nursing.

Mosby company. Toronto. Gittelsohn, J., et al. (1996). Use of ethnographic methods for applied research on diabetes among the Ojibway-Cree in northern Ontario. Health Educ Q. 23(3):365-82. Ross, S., & Morisson,G., ( n.d.). Experimental research method. PDF. Santrock, J., & Yussen, S., (1984). Children and adolescents. Brown publisher. Iowa. Stein, A., & Miller, J., (2000). NCLEX-RN review. Thomson. Singapore.